Virgin Hyperloop, which has lately been in the midst of a power change at its helm, announced a new chief executive, Jay Walder, who replaces Rob Lloyd, the man who headed the company for over three years. By selecting Walder, Virgin Hyperloop is marrying its futuristic technology of hyperloop to the administrative skills of a veteran who has run some of the oldest metropolitan transportation networks in the world – case in point, New York, London, and Hong Kong.
Then again, Walder is not entirely new to the futuristic transport scene, as prior to joining Virgin Hyperloop, he was the CEO of Motivate, an e-bike sharing company which has a strong presence across several U.S. cities. While at the company, Walder was instrumental in Lyft’s acquisition of Motivate, for a deal worth around $250 million, with Lyft observing that Motivate accounted for 80% of all bike-share trips made in the U.S.
“I have focused my career on using technology to advance innovation in transportation, so I could not pass up the opportunity to lead the company that has pioneered hyperloop,” said Mr. Walder of his intent in heading Virgin Hyperloop. “I look forward to joining the company at this incredibly exciting time and working with our partners to revolutionize sustainable urban development and travel.”
Walder has made a name for himself as being a visionary and a doer – traits that are of paramount importance to a technology that has promised a lot and still has not delivered a single commercial track, except a few short length test tracks across the world. That apart, the speed disparity between the theoretical one versus the actual achieved speed is also of concern, as the latter is more than twice as less as the former.
The reshuffling of power at the company does not stop with the exit of Lloyd. Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, who had been the chairman of Virgin Hyperloop over the last year, had quit last month citing reasons of his inability to find time in running the company from up close and that the startup would need a more “hands-on” chairman to scale faster.